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Monday, August 22, 2005
Cebu City, Province land in 'top earners' list
By Aledel Gonzales-Cuizon
CEBU CITY -- Cebu City and Province landed in the list of the top income earners among local governments last year, according to the Commission on Audit (COA).
Unfortunately, Cebu City also has the highest total liabilities among 117 cities in the country, at P3.86 billion.
The city is among the top 10 in terms of assets, cash in bank and gross income, but did not make it to the 2004 list of cities with the highest net income.
Cebu Province, on the other hand, ranks third among the provinces with the highest net income, at P307.6 million.
It has the third highest gross income among the provinces last year, at P1.26 billion, but also the fifth highest expenses, at P948 million.
Cebu Province is first among the provinces based on current assets, with some P1.25 billion; and also has the largest amount of cash in the bank, with some P1.03 billion.
These were part of the COA's findings after reviewing the financial performance of 75 provinces, 117 cities and 1,419 towns as of December 2004.
None of Cebu's towns made it to the list of top income earners. None were listed as big spenders either.
But the municipality of Tabuelan in Cebu's fourth district was among the local governments that reported net losses. They spent P731,000 more in operations than what they earned, the COA report showed.
COA's list came out as a paid advertisement in a national newspaper last Saturday.
It lists Cebu City as sixth among all cities with the highest expenses, at P1.57 billion.
Bottom line
In 2003, Cebu City posted the highest total net income among cities. But that year, it also had the highest amount of liabilities.
Just last week, Cebu City handed over a check for P300 million, to pay for part of the principal and interest of a loan it obtained to build the South Reclamation Project (SRP).
At current exchange rates, its SRP debt now amounts to some P6.3 billion, with about P600 million due next year. But city officials remain optimistic that once titles are issued, it will find plenty of investors to help City Hall avoid cash flow problems.
COA reported that in 2004, local governments nationwide earned a total of some P173.5 billion, but also spent P143.7 billion, for a combined net income of P29.8 billion.
At P109.2 billion, the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) accounted for more than 60 percent of the total income of local governments.
IRA-dependent
Pangasinan Province had the highest IRA, at P921.6 million, and Cebu Province came in second, at P908 million.
Quezon City received P1.47 billion in IRA, the largest among cities. Davao City came in second, at P1.4 billion.
Cebu City placed seventh, with some P608 million in IRA last year.
Quezon City topped the list of cities with the highest gross income, at P6.5 billion. It also placed first among the cities with the highest net income, at P2.48 billion.
The cities that reported the largest net incomes included Makati, P1.66 billion; Pasig, P1.13 billion; Manila, P947 million; and Olongapo, P591 million.
Manila ranked first among the cities that were big spenders last year, at P5.26 billion.
Davao City spent P633.2 million more than Cebu City did in 2004.
Liabilities
Like Cebu City, it did not figure in the list of cities with the highest net incomes.
Among the provinces, Bulacan was the biggest spender, and reported P1.14 billion in expenses. Negros Occidental placed second, at P1.01 billion.
Among the provinces, Cebu ranked 10th in terms of total liabilities, pegged at P461.6 million.
Palawan ranked first in this category.
Joining Cebu in the list of provinces with the highest gross income were Laguna, P1.37 billion; Bulacan, P1.33 billion; Negros Occidental, P1.14 billion; and Cavite, P1.14 billion.
Facing proposals to create three more provinces out of three congressional districts, Governor Gwendolyn Garcia has warned that splitting the province will cause it to lose its premier status as one of the country's wealthiest local governments. (Sun.Star Cebu/Sunnex)
(August 22, 2005 issue)
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